Epilogue

Dear Parents,

We did it!  Another outstanding school year is in the books.  I wanted to first talk about promotion and instrument/uniform turn-ins.  Here are some incredible statistics:

• All students who were required to be at promotion were either present or accounted for.  Nobody skipped this final performance.
• 1/3 of Concert Band volunteered to play along and learned the music in just one week!
• All uniform items were returned by the last day of school.
• All school instruments were returned or reissued as summer rentals on time and in good repair.
• Everybody helped out with cleaning and organizing the band room, saving me hours of time.

I have NEVER had such a GREAT sounding band at promotion.  In addition, I have never had such a cooperative group.  We set up the gym in 8 minutes and returned everything to the band room in 5 minutes.  Last year, this took over an hour!  Everyone worked as a team and what is potentially the most chaotic day ended up being one of the most relaxing for all of us.  Thank you students!  

Oh, did I mention that these were all 6th and 7th graders??  The future looks very bright for our band/strings program!

To all the 8th graders reading: Don't think I forgot about you!  I was so proud to have a group of approximately 10 8th graders who tried to come back to visit me before promotion practice.  Your hugs, positive comments, and genuine excitement made me even more sad to say goodbye.  But again, don't think of it as goodbye. Think of it as "See you later!"  Regan and Gillian: your speeches were absolutely wonderful.  It has been quite a journey seeing you all grow both as human beings and musicians since our first day together at CMS.

2014-2015 Highlights

• There were two strings classes this year, for the first time in CMS history
• The marching band debuted new uniforms and marched in 3 parades
• The Dolan Automotive Fundraiser generated over $5,000 from very generous donations
• 21 students were selected for the NZNMEA Honor Band
• 6 students were selected for the NMEA All-State Band
• Chili Bingo Night earned the program approximately $6,300 in profit
• Concert Band, Intermediate Band, Advanced Band, and Advanced Strings all earned straight "Superior" ratings at the NZNMEA Music Festival
• For the first time in known history in Carson City, the CMS Jazz Band represented our state capital at the Reno Jazz Festival
• 6 outstanding 8th grade band members were selected to play in the CHS Wind Ensemble
• Adelynn and Josie were recipients of scholarships to attend the Lake Tahoe Music Camp

Jazz Camp begins on Monday!  I have room for a couple more people.  If you're not registered and you want to drop in to see if this camp is for you, come on Monday and try it for yourself!  We have a nice group of people signed up in the ensemble camp, and the concert on June 9 is going to be a lot of fun!  

I'll post little updates here and there throughout the summer.  Thank you for a great year, everybody.  Parents, Mrs. Heaton, and Ms. Simkins: I couldn't have done this without you!  In the words of Porky Pig: "That's All, Folks!"

-Mr. Jacques-